Month: January 2006

This story made me prick up my ears … I agree with the idea that it is not the prototype that needs to be better, but the story … but, at the same time, we all have greater expectations of what a prototype will do. No matter whether it is a website, a computer application, a product, a book or a gadget, we all expect it to be better, cooler, faster, sleeker … and many other -er words.

It reminds me of Rodin and his sculpture, "The Thinker". To make it look "real" he made the arch of the back 20% larger than is humanly possible. By making his sculpture hyper real, he made it APPEAR true to life.

Therefore, if we want our prototypes to appear true to life … YES we need a good story (but one 20% better than the story of our real lives), but we also need to make the prototypes better as well. Because, as Guy Kawasaki points out (point 5), if you have a great idea, then five others have the same idea. But if you push to find that extra 20% in the way it has been prototyped, and then deliver it with a 20% better story than your competition, then you may just win that deal.

S.

It’s funny, we can spend a great deal of time and effort trying to tell our own story. But, at the end of the day, it is the stories that others tell about us that hold a greater influence over our destinies.

Guy Kawasaki calls this "flow with the go" — see here. If someone loves what you are doing, then your challenge is allowing that person the chance to spread the word. Try a viral campaign with a friend-get-friend offer. Try a coupon. Try something funny. Just make sure that there is some of your own story sprinkled in there.

Otherwise you are just helping someone make more noise in an already busy world.

A little while ago I was blogging on about The Sleeper’s Almanac. So I thought, this would would make a great Christmas present. So I ordered a copy online and planned to have it shipped to my holiday destination. Unfortunately it did not arrive.

Louise Swinn at Sleeper’s Publishing has been fantastic about helping to sort this out. While the transaction seemed to clear through PayPal, it doesn’t seem to have found its way into the bank account of Sleeper’s Publishing. I am sure it is just a matter of time before it turns up … but in the meantime, Louise has kindly taken me on trust and promised to forward me a copy.

Sure, I sent her receipts etc … but it is nice to know that people are passionate about getting a product into the hands of their equally passionate audience. So why don’t you go ahead and order yourself a copy of the Almanac … you will get hours of good readying and be supporting an independent publisher at the same time.

And, for what it’s worth, I will provide updates on my reading when it arrives!

S.

This one made me laugh out loud! I know myself that I will often try to get everything right, answer all the questions (asked or not) and test and retest before releasing a new idea, website or branding concept. But I do believe in learning fast too!

Any new idea needs to be thought through, but an innovative idea will be granted some grace as long as it is followed up quickly. Which comes to Guy’s point 7 — act Digital, think Analog. You have got to surprise and delight people … tell them a story (of how you got this far), make them a promise (to keep them interested) … and then deliver, deliver, deliver.

S.

It strikes me that Google is constantly opening new doors for us all to walk through. Amazingly, we are all still happy to do so!

The Google guys have been one of the success stories of the Internet age. They continue to align their own story with action. They use acts and deeds as a way of further illustrating and extending the Google story, with the Google Pack only the latest in a long string of efforts.

The Google Pack draws upon the massive goodwill owned by the Google brand. By offering a range of useful softwares for free, they are using their huge distribution network to begin building credibility in household software — essentially following the path that Microsoft used with Internet Explorer. And we all know how well that worked!

I think it will be easy to see how much market penetration occurs. Just check your site access logs for the number visitors using the Firefox browser. If it gets above 7-8% then you know Google is succeeding.

If you are particularly keen help on this front, you can add the Explorer Destroyer to your own site.

S.

When I worked at IBM years ago, I used to concentrate on my work most of the day, and then look at my email after lunch. Now, of course, my day revolves around email. I read it first thing, action items and then look again. Email has become absolutely essential in my work. In fact, most of my work and creativity revolves around it.

So after a short break, I came back to review the many hundreds of email messages that were unread, and found a nice surprise buried way down the list.

Some time ago, John Moore over at Brand Autopsy had issued a challenge — to tell 5 friends your top 5 blogs. I had sent mine out and received a few in return (I think that is cheating). Anyway, one of the more interesting returns came from an old buddy, Phillip Allen.

Phil is an interesting chap … he works at IDC the IT industry analysis group, has a background in sales, marketing — and loves a gimic, a red light special and almost anything to do with technology. One of his favourite sites was Pandora. I decided to check it out.

This a very cool site! Not only does it allow you to find the music that you like, it also suggests new music that you may be interested in, then lines them up for your aural pleasure. I remember reading somewhere that many people don’t buy new music after the age of 30 … and that seemed to be a great indictment on the creativity and imagination of my generation. And while iTunes may have changed the game a little, my guess is that we are all just downloading all the old songs that we used to love — not new material.

And as music continues to create a soundtrack to our lives, even into old age, I have a hunch that keeping engaged with new and emerging music has something to do with our own sense of creativity. Even if we don’t like it. So check out Pandora, and see what pops up! Let me know if you find something unexpected but good!

S.

If you have ever wanted to run a startup, then there are many insights to be gained by visiting Guy Kawasaki’s blog. He is a venture capitalist and was product evangelist for Apple’s Macintosh. He has written a number of books on how to kick start a new business in a fast paced world.

While you may have heard some of this before, it is important to be reminded often. It is too easy to slip into an ordinary way of thinking, acting and creating.

I have started to get into delicious. It is great place to check out the bookmarks of other web surfers. On one hand it allows us to take a peek into the private/public world of another person’s view of the web, and on the other hand, it provides a way of building community.

It is this community aspect that interests me most. In the real world we consider community to be about the places that we inhabit … the cafes we frequent, the libraries, shops, halls and sporting fields we visit. Online, our communities become much larger in territory, but also more focused in their intent. And through places such as delicious, we can even find new communities that come in a new flavour that we can grow to like.